Cabo San Lucas: April, 2004

Behold the turtle. He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out.

- James Bryant Conant

I don't advocate flying to Iraq in a red, white and blue bikini, but as long as you don't attempt anything quite so foolhardy, you may never have a better opportunity to travel than right now. Many people have allowed exaggerated concerns about travel safety to deter them from enjoying life, and this slackened demand has lowered prices.

We arrived at our third port, Cabo San Lucas, in the early morning, but not too early for us to enjoy a delicious breakfast before taking a tender to shore. If you're on Carnival for the Mexican Riviera, remember Cabo is a short port day, so don't sleep in! Cabo is a wonderful port, with many great options, so you wouldn't want to miss it.

We decided to take a glass bottom boat to Lover's Beach, a stretch of sand between craggy rock formations that spans the gap between the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean. I arrived at Lover's Beach with quite a splash, literally, falling into the lapping waves as I tried to take a short cut off the boat. I'd suggest simply wearing bathing suits to this beach, putting your clothes in a backpack if you must bring them.

My outer clothes dried as we put on our masks and snorkels to explore the Sea of Cortez. Plenty of fish came to check us out as we checked them out, but the highlight came when we spotted a giant sea turtle swimming gracefully below us. We followed him around, but eventually he sped away to do some exploring on his own.

Mazatlan: April, 2004

You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away, know when to run.

---Don Schlitz (immortalized by Kenny Rogers)
When we bring our kids along on a cruise, our family usually visits the game room or library on our first night out at sea to play some cards, and our most recent cruise was no exception. Soon, we had a new friend, 17 year-old Dustin, who was putting the finishing touches on his own crossword puzzle when we started dealing cards. Dustin and my 16 year-old son, Jay, became good buds on the cruise.

The two of them became the nucleus for regular card games on the ship with everyone from teenagers to a lovely grandmother, Connie, who happened to be a bridge instructor. The games ran the gamut from Poker to Go Fish to Bridge to what we politely refer to as I Doubt That.

Alas, occasionally our floating resort arrived at ports of call, and the card games had to break up temporarily. Our second port was Mazatlan.

The greatest appeal of Mazatlan to me seemed to be Senor Frog's, this port city's crazy cantina that has become a marketing powerhouse, with Senor Frog's Stores seemingly on every corner. For a family cruise, however, this wasn't on our itinerary.

We enjoyed a wild ride in the open air taxi cutting in and out of traffic on the bustling streets of Mazatlan. Shoppers hunting for bargains enjoyed the give and take of the vendors, but we abstained and headed to the beach.

The beaches of Mazatlan tend to be crowded, but there are some fun activities available there, like a speed boat that pulls tourists perched on an inflated tube through the water at high speeds. We rode an amphibious vehicle to a little island, and the ride for us was better than the destination.

We returned to our Fun Ship where we enjoyed the pool, great food, wonderful entertainment and, of course, some more games of cards with our expanding circle of friends.

Puerto Vallarta: April, 2004

The highlight shore experience on our 2004 Mexican Riviera cruise for my family came in Puerto Vallarta. After taking a taxi to Mismaloya Beach, my 11 year-old daughter Amy persuaded us to ride horses up to El Eden, a secluded jungle retreat in an area where Arnold Schwarzenegger filmed "Predator."

The one hour ride up the mountain, through creeks, past pigs and eventually through a jungle took its toll on my butt, especially when the horses changed gears to a trot, but it was fun.

I was happy to climb down from my horse at El Eden. We passed through the giant palapa restaurant and found a pond fed by a waterfall.

Grabbing a hanging vine like Tarzan, I swung off the edge and landed in the refreshing water. The kids couldn't resist following, and even my wife took a turn.

On the other side of the pond, we climbed up rocks near the waterfall and then slid back down the cascading water, freefalling the last few feet into the jungle pool.

After playing in the water and having Pepsis in the palapa, we climbed back on our horses thoroughly refreshed for the one hour ride down the mountain.

Upon concluding our rustic adventure, we happily returned to the luxuries of our floating resort for a sumptuous meal and sail away party in the moonlight.

Optimism and Elation: April, 2004

"In the long run the pessimist may be proved right, but the optimist has a better time on the trip."

--- Daniel L. Reardon




I had a fantastic time with my family on the Mexican Riviera aboard Carnival Elation over Easter Vacation in 2004. We always love the onboard experiences, from the great meals to the wonderful entertainment to the time relaxing with a book by the pool.

With grilled burgers and hot dogs by the pool, 24 hour pizzeria, Chinese food, deli sandwiches, sushi and a great international buffet, Carnival regularly wins awards for best casual dining among cruise lines. Their dining room experience has continued to improve over the years, despite the fact that many of the casual cruisers attracted to Carnival never make an appearance in that venue. On Elation, my family enjoyed the great food all over the ship. While Amy likes to experiment with new tastes, Jay loves being able to order steak, potatoes and Caesar salad any time he wants for dinner. Julie and I had no trouble finding something great to order.


Entertainment on Carnival is always exciting and loud. In fact, everything about Carnival, from the games by the pool to the decorating to the big shows, is exciting and loud. They don't seem to know the meaning of the words "under statement." Instead, the philosophy is that more is better. If one palm tree is good decorating, then three with Christmas lights must be better in the world of Carnival. The big shows draw enthusiastic responses from the...you guessed it....excited and loud crowd. One of my favorite venues is the more intimate piano bar, where a gifted singer happily plays requests for guests sitting around the oversized baby grand on bar stools.

You'll find more beautiful people dancing with drinks in their hands around the pool than on any other cruise line, but there are also plenty of folks enjoying good books in lounge chairs. The circular waterslides on Carnival are probably appreciated more by me than my kids, especially when the water temperature hit about 80 degrees.


The kids seemed to prefer spending more time in the game room, where they became part of a fun group playing cards and board games. As always, the kids and I played a lot of trivia games, and we came away with a "24 carat solid gold plastic ship on a stick" trophy.


As the commercials ask, "What's your idea of fun?" You can find it on a cruise.

Boldly Go!

With the much publicized problems of subprime mortgages feeding fires of fear, the natural inclination is to huddle in a corner, wondering what will happen next. Rather than being frozen into inaction, however, you should embrace this as a time of great opportunity to plan your next vacation.

I'm not saying that if someone is mortgaged to the hilt and has no way to repay the loans that he should foolishly throw money in a different direction. I'm talking to responsible people who have lived their lives by prudent financial standards and comfortably afford a nice vacation every year or two. I'm talking to you personally.

My clients aren't the ones who live beyond their means or rely on stock investments to support lavish lifestyles. My clients are people with strong work ethics who take well-deserved breaks with their families to see other parts of the world about once a year.

When uncertainty and fear cloud the future, demand for cruises drops, and cruise lines adjust their offerings to attract more buyers. After 9/11, the smart people locked in the best deals. I know I bought a three night cruise for that very next weekend at a ridiculously low price and had a great time. I also started a group on an Alaska cruise for the summer of 2002 in which we all booked balconies for the price of inside rooms on a gorgeous Celebrity ship. It was one of the best cruises ever.

At this time of year, I frequently see amazing last minute deals coming across my desk, but since most of my clients are slaves to the school schedules, I sell very few. However, financial uncertainty also makes this a terrific time for future cruise bookings. Lock your space now with a deposit, and I will do my best to make the deal even sweeter by the time you depart. While depositing in times of uncertainty seems bold, remember that most cruise deposits are fully refundable until the day before final payment, if you book through Cruise Planners 1, where "Better service leads to better trips!"